Iowa - Don't eat the fish.

[Bubba1235]

I just read the state's (Iowa) report on water quality and there wasn't a single large body of water that didn't have a warning about eating any fish caught in them. (Farm Chemicals)

How sad is that???

 

[Huron Angler]

Re: Iowa - Don't eat the fish.

That is extremely sad

In addition...I wish they would stop with the ethanol additives and subsidies.

 

[tpcowfish]

Re: Iowa - Don't eat the fish.

The sad thing is ,most waters in U.S. probably have some warning, Lake Erie usually is so many meals a month,of certain species, some less ,or more. I think we need to start thinking a little farther ahead, whats our waters going to be like in 25 years, not tommorrow, Probably won' be able to drink any water, poor kids and grand kids

 

[rolmops]

Re: Iowa - Don't eat the fish.

The water quality is dramatically better now then it was 25 years ago and it is getting better all the time.
In the early eighties tests were run on Lake Ontario cat fish and 75% of over 5 year old cat fish had cancerous tumors caused by PCBs and other chemicals.Nowadays cat fish and other bottom feeders (except for politicians) no longer have pollution caused tumors.

 

[mike243]

Re: Iowa - Don't eat the fish.

it is a shame that almost all large bodys of water has some type of water pollution,the upside like tpcowfish said is they are better now than x amount of years ago.there's a lot of different folks that ck the water now & it will some day be back to an acceptable level,here in Tn they list the warnings in the limit/rules book so it is open info,years ago i think it was a dont say nothing/start nothing by the folks in the know,mike243

 

[DJ]

Re: Iowa - Don't eat the fish.

The sad thing is ,most waters in U.S. probably have some warning, Lake Erie usually is so many meals a month,of certain species, some less ,or more. I think we need to start thinking a little farther ahead, whats our waters going to be like in 25 years, not tommorrow, Probably won' be able to drink any water, poor kids and grand kids

Forty years ago, you couldn't find a fish in Lake Erie, much less eat one.

In many areas, we're going in the right direction. In some others, the wrong direction.

 

[Mark_VTfisherman]

Re: Iowa - Don't eat the fish.

it is a shame that almost all large bodys of water has some type of water pollution,....they list the warnings in the limit/rules book so it is open info,years ago i think it was a dont say nothing/start nothing by the folks in the know,mike243

Most of the eating advisories have to do with mercury and PCBs.

NEW pollution has been reduced drastically- but before the 70s or 80s there were not too many obstacles to industry or other contributors- including municipalities- dumping stuff in waterways and lakes.

Another major factor to water quality: agriculture. Like to eat? Like beef? Corn?

Another? Automobiles.

Yup, stuff we do can hurt the environment.

One has to be careful of generalizations about pollution- "we" are a major factor to pollution as well. I guess what gets me on this thread is the questions: "What am I going to do about it? What can I do to help?"

When we look at collective "community" problems like abuse, alcoholism, power grid needs, and yes, even pollution with the perspective that it is 'out there' somewhere, somehow a thing to observe and comment on, but not something as part of community that we can influence for the better, we are not doing our part as members of that community.

Water quality is much better today than it was in the 60s and 70s in many places. Water clarity is not necessarily a good indicator of lack of pollution either.

M 2 cents, fwiw

 

[tpcowfish]

Re: Iowa - Don't eat the fish.

40 years ago there were fish in Erie. I caught them as a kid, You are right as it was poluted heavily back then but now it is still abused ,just differently, more pesticide's used in farming, more farming, there is an electric co. on water that doesnt cool water down before returning it to lake, Algae blooms are bad in summer, zebra mussels make it look cleaner. We used to catch perch all the time from the bank as kids, now you have to go out miles, something has changed. altho walleye fishing is very good. There can never be enough done ,in my eyes, to protect the fresh water lakes ,and rivers in the world, Oceans too. Oh yeah ,that elect. comp. also sucks in water from lake in the bay, and kills millions of frye and eggs as it is located in a major spawning area

 

[itsaboattime]

Re: Iowa - Don't eat the fish.

There isn't a river in iowa or illinois i'd eat a fish out of. I have just stopped eating fish all together.

 

[oklahomariverfisherman]

Re: Iowa - Don't eat the fish.

Down here in Oklahoma I currently live in the Northwest part of the state. The doctors in Oklahoma City have labled this area "cancer alley" due to all the nitrates in the groundwater from farmers. I am sure that this effects the fish as well. One time in high school we tested all the schools water for chemistry class. We were not allowed to drink out of the fountains for a week after that as levels were way too high.

On the upside, if these nitrates make everyone sterile, I guess there won't be anyone to continue the poor farming practices. I guess we will starve then. About the subsidies of corn, I agree. Ethanol is not a solution to the energy problem, it is a proven fact.

 

[scottyt22]

Re: Iowa - Don't eat the fish.

I catch beautiful looking coho's and trout in the big lake - lake michigan. I eat very few of them, but they are good, feed many of them to my dogs who love 'em. The docs say the best fish to eat are OCEAN WHITE FISH CAUGHT WILD.

 

[CATransplant]

Re: Iowa - Don't eat the fish.

I'm 100% catch and release these days. Heck, I don't even use live bait, except for nightcrawlers and earthworms. They're worms, after all.

It's partly for health reasons and partly because I fish to catch the things. Once I've done that, I'd just as soon let them go.

 

[RicMic]

Re: Iowa - Don't eat the fish.

I eat fish all the time, I don't eat SOME species of fish ever. There are food warnings on nearly everything, so unless you are only eating your own organic vegetables, the only way to be healthy will be to starve to death.
Things actually have gotten better, Lake Erie was known as the "dead sea", the Cuyahoga river in Ohio did catch on fire, more than once. Lake St. Clair in Michigan, which is one of the heaviest fished lakes in the world, was entirely closed to fishing and then only catch and release for years, because of mercury, pcb's etc.. Worldwide, things are getting worse, just to many people for the planet to handle, but at least a few areas are not as bad as they used to be.

 

[oklahomariverfisherman]

Re: Iowa - Don't eat the fish.

The river caught on fire? I've never heard of that heppening before. Crazy, what made it do that (obviously I assume something flammable)?

 

[RicMic]

Re: Iowa - Don't eat the fish.

Yup, it caught on fire multiple times. I guess it had more than enough flammable chemicals in it to support combustion. It was a pretty big embarrassment to Cleveland and thats in a town, nicknamed "the mistake, by the lake"!